Brendan Jackson at Celtics Hub has the play broken down frame by frame and came to the conclusion that Wade did in fact take Rondo down with a leg sweep.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers defended Wade’s part in the play for the most part. “It was a hard foul,” Rivers said. “Let’s put it like this: He didn’t intend to hurt Rondo. I don’t honestly believe in 99 percent of cases in our league the player ever intends to hurt anybody. But he did, and it just happens.”

Rivers also added this in response to Rondo’s return to the court:

“Players play,” the coach said. “We can all tell our war stories, but very few players are able to do that in that situation. They would try, though. There’s a bigger group in our league than you think that would have tried. I love our league and that’s the part about it that I think people miss. They see the other stuff, but these guys love playing. They have more love and passion about the game than people give them credit for, and yesterday was just another example of an NBA player not caring about his health and just trying to help the team.”